The Eagle Flies Once More
by Ryuus2
Summary: Naruto hit his head. What else is new? Now he remembers being three of the worlds greatest assassins, and one of them just told him that he has to save the world. Pairings undecided, but I'm open to suggestions.
1. Chapter 1

This idea was circulating in my head as I watched my brother play Assassins Creed 2, and I just figured out how the hell I want to start it. So, without further ado, I give you The Eagle Flies Once More!

None of these guys and girls are mine. If any of them are, I'll be sure to let you know.

* * *

"words" talking

_'thoughts' _thinking

_"quotes, kinda"_ remembered speech

(Dattebayo!) Naruto interrupting me

{sigh} Me

* * *

The salt air scratched at Naruto's face in the cold wind. Naruto was sitting on the edge of a cliff overlooking the western coast of Wave Country. Naruto had a distant look in his eyes, his mind lost in thoughts of his C-gone-A-Ranked mission.

He had watched his sensei get butchered by two Mist nukenin, and only slipped out of his shock when his sensei revealed his deception. He had vowed in blood to never let that happen again. He had faced down Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Bloody Mist, and in the process saved his sensei's life and been given a front-row seat to a battle between two true shinobi. He had earned that bastard Sasuke's respect by tying with him at learning the tree climbing exercise (I really won, but I felt like slowing down at the end to make Sasuke feel better…no really! I did dammit!). He had shown that brat Inari what it meant to be a man, and lit the fire under the kid that he needed to prove it to the rest of the island as well. He had watched his best friend (he's my rival! Stop writing this weird shit you damn author!!){can it you! Or I'm throwing in an orgy between you, Orochimaru, Kabuto, Kimimaro, Itachi, and Kisame!}(*pales whiter than Orochimaru and tries to hold in his lunch, breakfast, and dinner from the night before* OK OK! I'll shut up!){Good. Now, where was I? Oh, yes, *Ahem*} He had watched his best friend die in his arms and nearly killed that Haku boy (I still say Haku was a girl){don't make me add Kakuzu, Deidara, and Sasori's puppet army to that list!}(*fails to hold in his lunch this time* I'll be good! I'll be good!){you better be. Now, one more time} He had watched his best friend die in his arms and nearly killed that Haku boy with that weird red chakra (*opens mouth*){*glares*}(*closes mouth*){*nods*} only to watch, powerless, as Haku gave his life for his mentor. Then he had watched the last charge of the Demon of the Bloody Mist and the death of Gato. He remembered laying the two Mist nins to rest, and vowing his nindo on their graves.

Naruto sighed, remembering his first meeting with Haku. _"Do you have any precious people?"_ he had said…

Naruto turned at the sound of a twig snapping behind him, only to be met with a spearhead heading straight for his own skull. He reacted purely on instinct, instincts honed by years of avoiding capture in the streets of Konoha serving him well. He jumped over the spear and slashed out at the man, a bandit who had fled the bridge, with one of his kunai, attempting to ward him off and get some breathing room. The only problem was, Naruto miscalculated. His instincts, honed against experienced ninja that could react faster than the blink of an eye, were not attuned to burly civilians with an obvious weight problem. The slash that should have scared off the bandit instead dug deeply through his neck. By the time Naruto realized what he had done the man had fallen limply to the ground, his blood pooling underneath him and Naruto, with a copious amount staining the front of Naruto's jumpsuit and hands.

Naruto stared at the man for a moment in shock, before redirecting his attention to his hands. _'Did I…did I just…d-did I just kill him?!'_ Naruto's cranberry tinted hands stared back at him as if screaming _"Yes you dimwit! How else do you think I got this color?!"_

"No...no…" Naruto whispered as he backed away from the dead body. Backed away right over the edge of the cliff. Naruto was still too shocked to register that he had just killed someone, so it came as no surprise that he forgot to scream like a little girl on his way to the rocks below.

Naruto hit the ground with a resounding thud, but amazingly he was still alive, even conscious. He was conscious enough to register pain anyways, and that the ground beneath him was shifting for a split second before it gave away entirely and he fell some more. He felt himself impact with something hard and, by the clanking noise his head made when he landed, metallic. Then he knew no more.

* * *

Thank you for reading. Please review.


	2. Chapter 2

None of these guys and girls are mine. I'll let you know if that changes anytime soon.

* * *

A man in his mid thirties is sitting at a desk staring into a vanity mirror. The man is pale skinned with dark eyes. He's wearing a white shirt and grey hooded-overcoat with the hood down revealing his short black hair. The man is you and he's staring into his own reflection in the mirror like it's someone else entirely.

"My name is Desmond. If you're watching this, then the Animus has recognized you as once of my descendants. It also means…that the world as I know it has ceased to be." The man, Desmond, pauses to let you/himself/someone process what he just said. "I am an assassin, a member of the Brotherhood of assassins that have, throughout history, preserved the train of human evolution against our enemies, the Templars.

"You're probably confused. I know I was when this was all first revealed to me, but that'll pass. The device you're in, the Animus, is a Templar invention that lets someone relive the lives of their ancestors via the genetic memory in our DNA. The Templars took me off the streets and made me relive the life of one of the greatest assassins to ever live. His name was Altair. The Templars made me track down a very powerful artifact called a Piece of Eden that Altair encountered over the course of his life." Desmond pauses again, his hands clasped in front of him, two metal circlets glinting in the reflected light from within his sleeves. "Once I had outlived my usefulness to the Templars, I was rescued by the Brotherhood. They trained me by sending me into their own Animus to live the life of another of my ancestors, Ezio Auditore. He was an incredible assassin on par with Altair's abilities. He was known as The Prophet, and was a key to helping myself and the modern Brotherhood to prevent a cataclysmic event that was foretold by an ancient civilization."

Desmond pauses again and clenches his fists in remembered pain as he averts his eyes away from the mirror. He closes his eyes. "But we failed." He looks back up to his/your eyes in the mirror. "The Templars had known what would happen for longer than we had, and had collected more pieces of Eden than we had counted on. In the end it came down to us wasting too much time fighting them for control of the Pieces of Eden, and them fighting us for control of humanity. Now it's too late, and the Earth is about to change drastically.

"The Brotherhood is about to make one last push against the Templars to try and save the world, but we know it's too little too late. But there is always a chance. There is always a choice."

Desmond stops to collect his thoughts and let what he has already said sink in. He continues, "In the hopes that the Brotherhood can be preserved in the case of our failure, 100 women have been artificially inseminated with my seed over the past few months, and Animus's have been set up in secure locations around the world. Hopefully, none of that will be needed. But in the likely chance that we fail, I'm going to leave you a kind of tutorial on my abilities, and what the Animus will unlock within you the ability to do, and what you will have to do to protect the world.

"Firstly, this." Desmond's/your eyes glow blue for an instant before everything around you changes. The room has been tinted several shades darker and the reflection staring back at you is now glowing blue. "This is Eagle Vision. It's an ability that lets us see things that are hidden. It's a little hard to explain, but you'll be able to see messages hidden to the naked eye, shadows of what has been over things that are there, and differentiate between friend, foe, and target. I advise you to not use this in hotels rooms as the things you'll see can be rather…disturbing. Bleach doesn't get rid of everything." The world returns to normal and Desmond continues. "To activate the Eagles Vision you simply focus on your eyes for a few seconds and release that focus when you're done." Desmond glances at a clock to the side. "Damn, don't have much more time. I'll quickly explain the Pieces of Eden and what they do and then what the Animus has been set up to do. You'll learn the rest from the memories.

"The Pieces of Eden are ancient artifacts created by an incredibly advanced civilization to control humanity. They were created because the natural destructive tendencies of men were just too much for them to handle. Even one Piece of Eden will give the holder immense power over others; and the power only increases with the number of Pieces of Eden someone controls."

There's a knock at the door to the left. "Desmond," a woman's voice calls through the door. "It's time."

Desmond/you glances to the door and shouts, "Yeah Lucy, just a minute." Desmond refocuses on the mirror. "Okay, I'm out of time so I'll have to make this fast. I'm setting the Animus to lock onto this memory in the DNA of anyone it recognizes as my descendant and then download all of my memories, of my life, Altair's, and Ezio's, into the subconscious of anyone who fits my genetic profile. The memories will be accessed during sleep, where they'll be replayed to you over the course of a week or two so you can properly adjust to them without any negative bleed through."

An engine is heard in the background starting up. "Well, looks like times up. I hope that this memory is never needed. But if it is, good luck, and remember the code. Nothing is true. Everything is permitted." The image fades as Desmond stands up, multiple blades visible on his waist, and a dagger extending from his right wrist with a flick.

* * *

Wow, I just beat this out in about an hour, right after chapter one. I'll have to wait a bit to upload it so I can check some of the stats, but things look good so far.

Thank you for reading. Please review.


	3. Chapter 3

Let me clear something up: that was Naruto's FIRST kill. No matter how much Konoha prepares its gennin, it _will_ affect them. Naruto's reactions are from the compounded surprise of the sneak attack, the speed and unintended nature of the kill, the shock of _falling off a cliff_, the impact with the rocks, and the Animus download. He'll be back to Naruto by the time the story actually kicks off, but for now he'll be a bit addled.

Also, neither of the original works upon which this story is based and draws most of its themes are the property of myself or anyone I personally know. This is a work of fiction written by a fan (me) for the sake of my own interest in doing so. What I do with the plot and characters is my business, and I don't care what anyone except the legal owners of the source materials have to say about it. I do like a good review though. ;) This is applied for this entire story, since I don't feel like writing a disclaimer again.

Thank you to my reviewers: canadasucks, Maverick Hunter Phoenix, changingtides, Atticus Goodfellow, KRP, Fayneir, RogueNya, TenchiSaWaDa, Zeioinsanity, Houkou, and Jack512. And also thanks to the many people who put this story, and me, on their alert lists.

* * *

"words" talking

_'thoughts' _thinking

"_**Shannoro" **_Inner Sakura

* * *

"Where is that idiot!" screamed many fans least favorite kunoichi. Sakura was fuming, had been for all of two hours. "He was supposed to relieve me of guard duty before lunch so I could join Sasuke-kun on patrol." A hint of worry slipped into Sakura's voice towards the end, though she covered it up. "Have you seen him Tsunami-san?"

"No, Sakura-san, not since this morning," Tsunami tells her from the kitchen. "And Inari's been here helping me all day. I'm starting to get worried though; it's not like Naruto-kun to skip meals."

"Don't worry Sakura," Kakashi tells his student from the table, where he's discretely reading his Icha Icha Paradise, disguised as a war novel so Tsunami doesn't yell at him for corrupting her son and his students…again. "He's a big boy; he can take care of himself."

Sakura sighs, "If you say so Sensei. Is Sasuke-kun back from patrol yet?"

"He should be back any minute now," he says. The door creaks on its hinges as the dark clad Uchiha walks in through the front door. "Ah, speak of the devil. So, how was patrol Sasuke?"

Sasuke shrugs. "Hn, not much to report. Everything's quiet except for some of the leftover bandits of Gato's causing trouble by the west cliffs."

Inari gasps. "But Naruto Nii-san was headed to the west cliffs when he left this morning!"

Kakashi frowns, switching to squad commander mode. "Well, that's problematic. Sakura, Sasuke, go to the west cliffs and look for Naruto. And see if you can find the bandits camp while you're at it."

They both nod affirmatively, Sasuke with a serious look to his usually bland face and Sakura with that hint of worry that she tried to hide earlier.

* * *

Sasuke and Sakura make their to the west cliffs via treetops silently, Sasuke having told Sakura to be quiet in enemy territory after only a few minutes of her blabbering to him. He made a note to use that one on their next out-of-town mission. The silence was heavenly.

They reached the tree-line overlooking the cliffs unopposed and began scanning the edge of the cliffs for any sign of Naruto or bandits. "Sasuke-kun, look over there," Sakura whispered to Sasuke. She was pointing to a large orange lump near the edge of the cliffs to the north of them. "That stupid Naruto. He probably fell asleep training again." Inner Sakura decided to make her opinion known at this point. _**"OHHH!!! When I get my hands on him…" **_Inner Sakura mimed strangling something.

Sasuke "Hn'd" as the two of them made their way towards their napping teammate. Then the wind shifted.

Sasuke froze as he caught a whiff of a scent that had plagued his nightmares for years.

Death.

"Sakura! Stop!" He shouted, but he was too late.

Sakura had missed Sasuke's hesitation and reached the still orange lump. She had come close enough to tell that it wasn't Naruto; too tall and too thick. She looked back when Sasuke yelled and saw what looked like panic in his eyes. "What? Sasuke-kun?" Sakura turned back to the orange clad man when she caught a flicker of red in her peripheral vision. She shouldn't have looked.

The flicker of red Sakura had seen was part of a two foot pool of blood, centered around the orange clad mans head, which just happened to be turned towards her, his eyes wide and glassy, his tongue poking out through the hole in his neck. Then the smell hit her. Sakura barfed. She really shouldn't have looked.

Sasuke caught up to Sakura while she was emptying her stomach. Sasuke had steel in his eyes as he moved forward to investigate. _'His neck was slashed. Looks too deep to be an assassination, too sloppy to be a beheading. Judging by the shape of the cut…a kunai. So Naruto must have done it. This guy probably snuck up on him looking for an easy kill. So where is that dobe?'_Sasuke looks around the corpse for any signs of what happened to his wayward teammate._ 'There are footprints here…and they're backing towards the cliff…oh no.'_

Sasuke peered over the cliff to check his suspicions. For the first time Sasuke, rookie of the year and Uchiha prodigy, got no pleasure out of being right. The tide had come in, and there, floating away in the surf, was a blue and orange blob with a shock of blonde at one end.

"Naruto! Sakura get Kakashi Sensei!" Sasuke yelled to his brainy teammate before he dove off the cliff.

Sakura screamed when Sasuke jumped off the cliff for no apparent reason after shouting something about Naruto and Kakashi. "Sasuke-kun!" She staggered to the cliff and fell on her knees at the edge, hoping to not find her teammate and love interest strewn across the rocks below. She peered over the edge to see Sasuke lugging a waterlogged Naruto to the shore. She released the breath she didn't remember taking, but the next one caught in her throat when she realized that only one of her teammates was currently moving. Naruto was still limp and silent in Sasuke's hold. "Sasuke-kun!" she yelled down to him.

"Get Sensei!" he yelled back as he struggled with the current to tow his unresponsive teammate to shore.

* * *

Later in the house Kakashi sat down in front of Naruto, who was sitting on a stool wrapped in a large blanket and trying his hardest not to look so much like a drowned puppy while he sipped his tea. "Naruto," Kakashi said in a low but strong tone. It took a few moments but Naruto eventually lifted his head enough to stare his cyclopean sensei in the eye. "I need you to tell me what happened on the cliff today, in as much detail as you can, starting from when you got there this morning."

Sakura stopped fretting over Sasuke, who was on the other side of the table on a similar stool, in a similar blanket, nursing a similar cup of tea, and trying his hardest to not look like a drowned duck, which was only barely achieved by his hair being down. Her worry over her crush quickly turned to ire against her teammate. "Naruto!" she yelled at him, making him cringe at the volume. She continued quickly and angrily. "What the hell were you doing?! Sasuke-kun could have been hurt when he dove in after you! And what was with that…that…that body…" Sakura lost steam towards the end, the memory of the dead bandit causing her to drop her voice to the point where she ended in a whisper.

Kakashi snaps at her. "Enough Sakura."

"But Sensei…!" The girl begins incredulously, but is unexpectedly interrupted.

"Sakura," Sasuke says in an agitated tone. When the pinkette turns to her crush he sets his patented Uchiha Death Glare™ on her. "Shut up."

"_**S**__a__**s**__u__**k**__e__**-**__k__**u**__n **i**s __**s**__c__**a**__r__**y**__. __**I**__y__**a**__a__**h**__!__**" **_both Sakura and Inner Sakura think in shock.

"I was clearing my head at the cliff…" a voice mumbles softly. The three arguing shinobi turn their attention to the source of the noise. Naruto continues, "I heard a noise- twig snapping. There was a guy charging me- big, orange shirt, short hair, spear, wooden geta. I jumped out of the way…" Naruto trails off with a hard look on his face.

"Take your time Naruto. What happened next," Kakashi says in a slow and calming tone.

"I…I drew my kunai and swung at him, to make him back off and get some breathing room. But he, he... he kept charging," Naruto said brokenly, finishing in a whisper. "He kept charging…and I, I couldn't move my arm in time," Naruto choked out. "I-I-I m-murdered-"

"No," Kakashi says with finality as he grabs Naruto's shoulder firmly. He continues when Naruto raises his head to look into his sensei's eye. "Not murder. He was trying to kill you, you stopped him. That's self defense. Not murder. Understand?" Naruto nods slowly as he processes this.

"Not…murder…" he mumbles with a spark of hope.

"Nope," Kakashi says with an eye smile. "Not murder. Now," He takes his hand from Naruto's shoulder and leans back in his chair. "What happened after that?"

Naruto gulps and squints his eyes in an attempt to increase his focus. "After I…that, I backed away and, uh," here Naruto pauses to rub the back of his head and put on a weak grin. "I, uh, I walked off the cliff and hit my head at the bottom, heh."

Everyone sweatdrops, including Naruto.

Inner Sakura goes on the rampage that Sakura wants to with many a loud _**"Shanaro!"**_ and _**"Baka!**_**,**_**"**_and other words and actions sweet, innocent maidens don't know. Sakura's sweatdrop doubles in size.

Sasuke rolls his eyes with a mumbled "dobe" and sigh.

Kakashi drops his head and sighs like Sasuke. He turns to the clock and then turns another eye smile on his gennin. "Well, it's late. You three get to bed." The three nod in the affirmative and Naruto finishes his tea. "Oh, Naruto?" The gennin all pause and glance at their sensei. "You take the next few days to rest."

Naruto opens his mouth to protest, but changes his mind and nods instead. Sakura is silenced by another of her crushes death glares. Once his students are out of sight, Kakashi slumps completely down into his chair. "I was really hoping to avoid doing that," Kakashi mumbles. "At least, for a little bit longer, anyway." Kakashi sits there for a while before sighing, then standing up and following his students to bed.

* * *

Up in their room, Sasuke and Naruto have just lain down in their beds.

Just as Naruto was about to close his eyes, Sasuke asks the question that's been on the edge of his lips since he determined that the corpse from earlier was the blondes doing. "Naruto, what was it like?"

"Huh?" Naruto asks, Sasuke having pulled him from his tired musings.

"What was it like? Your first kill?" Sasuke clarifies, turning his head to the blonde.

Naruto looks at his teammate before turning back to the ceiling. After a minute, Naruto closes his eyes.

"Bad, Sasuke. Just… bad."

* * *

I haven't ever exactly played either Assassin's Creed game, just watched other people do it. So, since I don't have a strategy guide or my own observations to work off of, just assume that each of Naruto's 'dreams' (which I am NOT writing out) eclipse one of Desmond's 'dives,' and that the first covers Desmond's memories from the beginning of AC1 up through his first extraction from the Animus, and that all following dreams are another day that Desmond stays hooked up to the Animus.

I know this chapter mostly sucks, but I wanted to get it out and get the story moving some. Future chapters will take some time because I need to storyboard them

Now to quell any confusion this might cause. Naruto IS NOT actually experiencing the Animus ability from the games. The Animus he landed on directly downloaded all of the memory from Desmond's dives into Naruto's subconscious. The dreams he's having are just his mind slowly processing the information one segment at a time. This will avoid the bleeding effect that threatened Desmond, and will allow Naruto's brain to adapt the information in safe, useful ways. He IS NOT going to just learn how to do any moves he doesn't already know, his mind will just be trained to react to certain things certain ways, and know how to tap into the Eagle Vision. His brain will overwrite his nonexistent fighting style with actual, experienced techniques that he 'learned' as Altair, Ezio, and Desmond. His ninja training and reflexes are going to allow him to half-ass most of the moves, but he'll have to train in using them for them to work effectively. And he'll be FAMILIAR with the use of certain weapons, but again, he'll have to train with them to do it right.

Any questions? You know which button to press.

Oh, and I'm still accepting pairing requests.


	4. Chapter 4

There is a long, detailed, and arduous explanation as to the massive delay between chapters. I have summed it into two words:

College.

Bites.

And with that, onto the next chapter of "The Eagle Flies Once More"!

Addendum: I am flighty and easily distracted. I've been on a Negima/Harry Potter/Dresden Files buzz lately, and that on top of my new job have delayed this chapter greatly. It has also inspired another handful of stories for me to add on top of my other dozens of stories. Please forgive my tardiness.

Still accepting pairing suggestions. Review!

* * *

"talking"

'_thinking'_

"_quotes/remembered talking"_

{me} my input

[Naruto] Naruto's response

* * *

Naruto jolts awake in bed, sitting up rapidly and sweating. He gasps out between pants, "What the hell was that?" His eyes are ever moving, seeking remnants of his dream in the shadowed corners of the room.

As he sits there panting, he reflects on his dream. It started with one of his less-liked memories: a reenactment of his first kill, a rabbit when he was 10 in the academy. It was a survival exercise to get the kids used to long term field missions. It lasted a week, and they all had to make a kill for a meal at least once. That is how Iruka got close to him. After all, what kind of fox would cry over lunch, especially rabbit? Then the dream had segued to the battle with Mizuki where Naruto nearly lost Iruka, then to the first battle with Zabuza when Kakashi was captured and they were left helpless, and next the rematch on the bridge, watching Sasuke, Haku, and Zabuza's deaths again in slow motion. This was followed by the guy from the cliff yesterday. Finally, there was a repeat of Desmond's message, followed by the first dive and some of Altair's work.

'_What the hell was all of that?' _Naruto muses with a frown of concentration on his face. He's brought from his musings when Inari knocks on the door. "Hey, Aniki, you awake yet? Lunch is ready."

Naruto yawns at the interruption to his thoughts. "Yeah, I'm up. I'll be down in a minute."

"Right," Inari says through the door. Naruto hears him scurrying off as he drowsily stands and pulls on his normal clothes.

Naruto comes down for lunch in a droopy daze and shuffle. Tsunami looks up at him when she hears him on the stairs. "Good morning Naruto-kun."

Naruto stifles another yawn, but is interrupted from returning the greeting when his nose picks up the scent of the ramen Tsunami set out for him. He immediately perks up and with a cry of "RAMEN!" leaps to the table to fill his hunger. He pauses with his chopsticks halfway to his mouth when the other two giggle.

"Hehe, um…" he starts, ramen still up, other hand at the back of his head, and a sheepish grin growing on his face. His growing apology is cut out by his rumbling stomach, and Tsunami giggles at him while Inari busts a gut.

"It's alright Naruto-kun. You can eat first," she says through the hand she's using to obstruct her smile and stifle her giggles at the young blondes' antics.

"All right! Thanks!"

* * *

Four bowls later, he stops to pat his unengorged gut. It was only four bowls after all. "Ahhhh. That was good. Thanks Tsunami-san."

"Thank you Naruto-kun. But you could have had more. You haven't eaten since breakfast yesterday," she says with standard motherly worry for the normally ravenous boy.

"Nah, I'm good. You won't have much until the bridge is done, and I'm not really all that hungry right now. But you just watch out, 'cause come dinner I'll be rearin' to go!" Naruto gives them a macho pose from his seat.

She giggles again. "Then I'll make sure to have a lot ready for dinner."

"What are you going to do today Naruto Ni-san?" Inari asks from the stool at his mothers' right where he's drying the dishes.

Naruto takes a chin tapping thinking pose, elbow in hand and head tilted back. "Hmm, I don't know."

"Kakashi-sensei said you had today off and should rest," Tsunami tells him from the sink where she's scrubbing a stubborn stain out of a pot. "He said you shouldn't do any training."

Naruto switches to his arms-crossed, head tilted, frowning, scrunch-eyed thinking-seriously pose. "Well I don't just want to sit around all day. Maybe I'll go take a walk in a little bit." He gives a sure-of-himself nod of his head and declares boldly. "That's it. I'll go for a walk."

Tsunami and Inari suppress their giggles. Watching that last paragraph occur was funny. "Good to see you've got your energy back. Just be careful when you go out later," Tsunami says, glad that the recent events didn't seem to be weighing Naruto down too much.

"Right! Will do!" He gives her a salute with his goofy smile and the two crack up. He joins them.

* * *

Naruto is standing on the edge of a familiar cliff, looking down on the exact same place he was at yesterday, at a patch of rust-dyed grass that used to be occupied by a fat guy in an orange vest. A dead fat guy in an orange vest.

Naruto just stands there frowning. His hands slowly clench, his body slowly tenses, his jaw clenches, his lips pull back and he grinds his teeth. Finally he starts shivering and with his head down and eyelids mashed together starts yelling at the patch of grass.

"Why did you have to surprise me like that you bastard! I remember seeing you on the bridge, so I know you knew what I could do, SO WHY! I could have beat you easy! You wouldn't have died if you hadn't been so stupid to try sneaking up on me! I'm a ninja for crying out loud! How freaking stupid were you, you bone head! YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO DIE!" He stops mid rant to suck in a gasp, but he chokes on it because of what he sees when he opens his eyes.

Everything around him has shifted to shades of blue and black, the blood in front of him and surrounding footprints in neon red and a shining blue. He looks at himself to find an outline of black/gold, with a red tint to the area over his seal.

"What the Hell!" Naruto looks around frantically at the weirdness of it all. Then he starts getting awed and excited at this new way of seeing the world. Just as he's loosening up and starting to take in the sights, other than the stuff right in front of him, he blinks, and the world goes normal.

"What? Oh come on!"

He spends the rest of the afternoon trying to get the eyes working again. He finally is able to remember what Desmond described it all as in his dream: _"This is Eagle Vision. It's an ability that lets us see things that are hidden. It's a little hard to explain, but you'll be able to see messages hidden to the naked eye, shadows of what has been over things that are there, and differentiate between friend, foe, and target._

"Now, how did that Daiken guy say it all worked again?" {Daiken? Seriously? It's not that hard a name dude.}[Yes it is! Besides, I thought it was just a dream!] Naruto slips into his scrunch faced thinking pose from earlier as he tries to recall the words of the guy from his dreams.

"_To activate the Eagles Vision you simply focus on your eyes for a few seconds and release that focus when you're done."_

Naruto does just that, and is amazed when it works. He keeps his focus sharp as he looks around in wonder. He sees the colorful outlines of animals moving through the trees, and the marks from the…incident the day before. He continues walking around, examining things with the Eagle Vision. He glances over the cliff and sees that there's a golden circle in the water. He checks with his normal sight and sees nothing different. He switches back to Eagle Vision and the circle returns.

'_What did that Daikon guy _{Desmond! It's Desmond you clod!}[Hey! Who're you calling a clod!] {You ya nitwit! I can't wait until this is further along and you're actually using that organ between your ears.}[Hah! Shows what you know. The organs are all located in the torso!]{…the brain is an organ.}[*opens mouth to retort*thinks about it*closes mouth*…]{Don't worry, you'll get smarter, or at least get better control of your mouth and expressions. Now, back to the paragraph: _What did that_** DESMOND**_ guy_}_ say about colors? Gold was…targets? Or something? Must be important. Well I'm not jumping off this cliff again. Hmm…'_ "I know! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Five clones instantly poof into existence. "OK! You guys Henge into fish and check out that hole!"

"Right Boss!" They all jump, transforming into fish in transit. The fish-clones splash into the surf and immediately spot the hole and dive for it. As they cross the lip of the hole two get taken out by a rock squid. Another changes back to try and catch the squid. It takes him out as well, but the last two fish make well of the distraction and slip past the squid into the hole.

Up on the cliff, Naruto is livid that his third clone just got popped. He yells obscenities at the squid, and in a very Naruto way, goes for the numbers advantage. Once the small swarm of kage bunshin is completed, he gives a rousing cheer about catching the 'squid-teme' and bringing it back to Tsunami for dinner that night. As he is about to send the clones off, one of them says, "Wait a minute, how did we know about the squid?"

The orange swarm pauses at this and look at him in confusion. One enterprising clone says, "Because it attacked us, Duuuuhhh," and his opinion is echoed by many of the others.

"But," Clone A says as he throws his thumb over his finger at a Naruto, "Boss was up here. And even with that Eagle vision thing he can't see under the water."

A silence falls over the rambunctious crowd at this revelation. A revelation that the entire horde realizes should have been apparent months ago. Naruto could remember countless times he hadn't directly witnessed something his clones had now that he thought about it. Like the one that had seen the 'ramen half off' sign at the market while flying Air Sakura. Or the one that had seen the sign for the special at Ichiraku's while flying Air Sakura. Or the time he saw that the bathhouse was open again, after the last time he sent the women there after a pervert he found, while traveling Air Sakura.

"…Ya know, maybe we should be a little more careful around Sakura-chan," Naruto says, with many affirmatives from his clones. "Well, we need to get back to testing the limits of this Eagle Vision, and beat that squid-teme, and investigate that hole, and get down to the bottom of this clone-memory thing. So let's start with the Eagle Vision. Just remember what that Draken guy {you're doing that on purpose aren't you?}[Hey, don't look at me! You're the author!]{Yes, that means I created the story. I didn't however create you! If I ever actually created someone as pointlessly stupid as you, I'd have to grope Sakura into bashing my skull in.}[You don't have to grope Sakura to bash your skull in!]{I know. But if I'm going to do it I might as well get some enjoyment out of it, and all the other girls would kill me if I tried with them. Now, get back to work!}[Yeah, yeah, keep your clothes on. Ahem, "remember what that Dra_(I hold up a flashcard with a picture of a naked Orochimaru, a plus sign, a tube of lube, another plus, and a naked Naruto, followed by an equal sign. I'm about to twirl the card to show Naruto the answer when…)_ DESMOND! Desmond! Remember what that Desmond guy"] said, 'just focus and blink'."

"That's not what he said," one clone in the back shouts.

"It's close enough! Now, get started!" All the clones close their eyes and scrunch their faces up in concentration, trying to remember how it felt for the original only minutes ago. They all slowly open their eyes and let out gasps of awe and joy, before abruptly switching to cheers of raucous jubilation.

Once the partying dies down, Naruto gets all of 'his' attention focused back on himself. "OK! The Eagle Vision work for clones too. No idea what we'll use it for, but we'll figure that out later. Right now, I have an idea on how to test this memory-thingy!"

Naruto has the clones make a circle around two others, and then turn around so they can't see them. "Now you," he points to the left clone, "are gonna…do…something. Don't look at me like that! I can't think of everything! And I can't know what it is so you'll just have to come up with something. Then you dispel yourself and we see if I learn what you did. And you," now he points at the right clone, "are going to watch him so we can confirm that I learned the right thing when he dispels himself. And everyone else is going to look away so they can't see either. Then we'll find out if other clones learn at the same time I do." Naruto turns around, and a few moments later hears the tell-tale poof of a clone dispelling. He turns around and asks the sentry clone, "did he hop on his left foot while rubbing his stomach with his left hand and patting his head with his right?"

The clone nods in the affirmative. "Yep. That's what he did Boss."

"Great! That means I do learn everything you guys do when you dispel. What about the rest of you?"

"I saw it Boss!" "That's 'cause you were looking!" "How would you know?" "I know because I saw you looking while I was looking." "Why you!" Similar…conversations, and brawls, were breaking out all throughout the ring of clones. Naruto just sighs and shakes his head. He puts his hands in a familiar cross seal and with an ounce of effort dispels the entire fighting horde.

Before he can form more clones to go after the squid, he gets the memories of one of his fish clones, who was dispelled after getting stuck between a rock and a hard place. It tried to turn human to get out of the jam, but the jam was harder than he was and he went poof. The method of clone death was much less interesting to Naruto than what the clones found in the hole.

From the clones' memories, he knows that the hole is in the roof of a large domed chamber. The walls are filled up with odd box shapes with what appear to be television screens in them. There is a metallic chair in a reclining position in the center surrounded by debris, right under the hole in the ceiling. The chamber is well preserved, apparently having only recently been exposed to the sea, the cleanliness and organization of the room around the edges are clear indicators of that. The only sign of exposure is the rubble surrounding the chair in the center of the room. But this wasn't the important thing.

The fish clones discovered that clones henged as fish can use the Eagle Vision. This is also not the important thing, but it leads to it. For the fish clones found a box. A box that glowed _gold_ under the Eagle Vision. Naruto's mind leapt to the only logical conclusion for a twelve year old boy.

"It's a treasure chest! Wahoo!" Naruto jumps around like the hyperactive knucklehead he is, then remembers what he was doing and slams his hands together with a repeated shout of, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Naruto immediately sends the flock of clones into the water. One team uses a sac transformed from a clone to capture the squid, and another team turns into octopi and other fish to get the chest out of the water. They get the chest up through the hole and above the water, where a ladder of clones carries it up to the surface.

Naruto thanks and dispels his clones before examining the chest. It's ornate, with a soaring eagle carved into the cover. And it was locked. Fortunately, he passed that particular class in the Academy and he picks the lock with ease. He opens it to find something he really didn't expect.

Inside are matching left and right hidden blades. They're the modified keep-your-finger version. He caresses them with awe as he finds yet more proof that his dreams mean something, he just doesn't know what; the questions just keep mounting up.

He takes the one with the more stylish design out of the box. He tries it on over his left wrist and finds it fits nicely, but is very obvious over his jacket sleeve, and not something he wants to explain. He tries it on under his sleeve, but his arms are too thin to hold it in place well. Naruto looks at the sinking sun and decides that it's time to get back for dinner. He places the blade back into the box, then tucks it under his arm, picks up the bag-o-squid, and starts back to Tazuna's.

* * *

Naruto beats his team back to the house, bagged squid in hand and treasure chest nowhere to be found.

"Tsunami-san, Inari! I'm back!" He shouts as he slams the front door on his way in.

Tsunami pops her head out of the kitchen. "Welcome back Naruto-kun. What's that you have there?" she asks, staring at the sack.

"A rock squid," he says, displaying the sack for her inspection.

"A rock squid?" she asks, peering into the sack at the X-eyed mollusk. "Where did you get a rock squid? They're very rare and aggressive."

"Well, I got down to the coast at one point and stumbled on him. It took some work, but I eventually nabbed 'im." Naruto says while puffing out his chest. Tsunami giggles at his bravado.

"Well, I don't think I'll be able to include him in dinner today, but now we have something for tomorrow. Thank you Naruto-kun." She checks the clock on the wall. "You should go wash up. Everyone should be back soon, and then we'll have dinner."

"Do you need any help?" he asks.

"Thank you, yes. You can set the table."

Everyone gets back to find Naruto, sans jacket, doing exactly that. They all catch up on the day over dinner.

Naruto retells the fake story of his walk and capture of the rock squid. Inari tells how he practiced his archery when he wasn't helping Tsunami with chores and cooking. Sakura comments on her boring guard duty. Tazuna jubilantly talks about how the bridge is moving rapidly now that all the workers are back at it.

There wasn't anything even remotely interesting to talk about until Sasuke's turn came around and he shrugged off his boring patrol. He couldn't find any traces of Gato's goons at all.

"Don't worry about that anymore," Kakashi says. Everyone turns to him…and sees him with his nose in his still cleverly disguised Icha Icha. He somehow managed to eat all his food without anyone noticing. Again. He continues, "I took out what was left of Gato's goons and looted his base."

The silence is well earned at his startling news. All three seconds of it.

"WHAT!" Surprisingly, this particular outburst wasn't Naruto's, but Sasuke's. The Uchiha Avenger sends a low-key glare at his sensei. "I searched all day trying to find them. I even backtracked from the cliffs this morning but the trail ran cold after only a few miles."

Kakashi just gives his angst ridden student his Vapid Eye Smile of Superiority©. "I'm a much more experienced tracker than you are. And my ninken aren't only good for restraining demon swordsmen you know." Everyone shuts up to process this. Kakashi takes advantage of the moment and turns to Tazuna. "I need a group to help move and distribute the loot from Gato's base. Can you spare the workers?"

"I'll do it," Naruto volunteers.

"No Naruto," Kakashi says with an amount of force. "You're still supposed to be taking it easy."

Naruto matches the force of command in Kakashi's voice and eye with his own stubborn glare and once again forms his most familiar of handsigns. He fills the room with clones hanging, standing, and sitting all over the place, including the walls and ceiling with various interpretations on 'vertical.' "This _is_ easy. There aren't even a hundred of them. I make more for my weakly brawl."

Sakura finally breaks through the confusion of the conversation up till now to ask the question everyone else now wants to. "Weakly brawl? What are you talking about?"

The Naruto leaning on the back of her chair answers so the original won't have to break his staring match with Kakashi. "Boss conjures a bunch of clones, then we have a free-for-all tornament until he's the last man standing."

Sakura turns her head partway to the clone so she doesn't lose sight of the current stand-off. "What if he _isn't_ the last one standing?"

"Then he get's back up and drop the last guy, of course," the clone says with bemusement at her question. He couldn't understand how she couldn't figure that one out.

We now return to our contest of wills currently in progress. "I'm gonna go out of my mind with boredom if I don't have something to do. Besides, I can still rest while directing my clones, and all you'll have to do is supervise from behind your book."

Kakashi was sorely tempted to take up Naruto's offer, just so he'd have more time for his precious Icha Icha. He was going to get to the part where Miko confesses to Hoji about her affair with his twin sister tomorrow. But he had to keep up appearances. "Are you sure you don't just want to see if Gato had something cool and valuable stashed away that I missed?"

Every Naruto in the room without exception grabs the back of their head and grins sheepishly with none too few an "Eh heh."

Everyone sighs at this blatant display of Naruto's childish nature. Kakashi turns a resigned eye smile to Naruto. How he managed to make the one eye relay a resigned smile baffles to this day. "Fine. You can help me tomorrow. Sakura can stay here and Sasuke will go with Tazuna to the bridge."

Naruto shouts in victory, and stereo, and finally releases his clones and gets back to dinner.

After dinner, Naruto checks his pack for the box before getting ready for bed. He'd had a clone slip in the window while he was talking to Tsunami earlier and stash it in his pack to avoid any odd questions about where he got it. A box containing deadly weapons he'd found using some weird dojutsu would have been much harder to explain away than the sacked squid.

* * *

You know, I've had most of this typed up since just after I shot out Chapter 3. I've just been busy (see primary note), and couldn't get around to working on it. On that tract, I passed my Political Science and English 2 courses! I really hate Gordon Rule classes.

I have the rough outline for this story, the _very_ rough outline, up to the beginning of Shippuden. I have an idea for what'll happen to cannon, but I'm stuck for a C-Rank. I need something generic and simple to blow out of proportion, but not another escort job. Any ideas?

Reviews make my day! Send me lots!


	5. Chapter 5

This will wrap up the After Wave arc, and next chapter starts the second groundwork arc. Then it's back to action and cannon with the Chunnin exams.

For now: Read! Enjoy! Review!

* * *

Team 7 had a busy two weeks.

Naruto's clone squads stripped Gato's base bare of anything of value that wasn't a supporting wall in a day under Kakashi and Naruto's guidance. They took everything back to the village in a convoy of wagons that used to belong to Gato, which meant they probably belonged to the people of Wave anyways. Everyone not working on the bridge came out to see the haul, and upon seeing all their food stores returned, the women came out en-force to prepare a proper victory feast for the heroes and builders.

Kakashi went back and burned the building and bodies to ash at the behest of the villagers. He stayed to keep the flames contained, and then used a doton jutsu to turn the soil and bury the remains.

All of Team 7 leant a hand to the bridge construction and learned something about bridge building, and construction in general. Also fishing. When they weren't helping with work they were learning to cast and bringing back something for the evening meal.

They were all given gifts by the people of Wave from Gato's coffers. Just a few pieces of jewelry each really, though judging by Naruto and Sakura's reactions you wouldn't think so. Tazuna sent the A-Rank fee ahead, as well as some extra for the deception.

Naruto had a group of clones work on getting the blades mounted discreetly under his coat, well away from prying eyes. They eventually determined that wrapping their forearms in thick bandages under a long-sleeved shirt and then tying the gauntlets to their tightest lacing overtop was the safest and least obvious way to go. The puffy sleeves of his jacket over it all kept the blades well hidden. It took the clones an entire day to figure it out, and the secret was almost spilled when the clone returning the box ran into Inari, but it was able to keep the box hidden and convince the boy nothing was up.

Naruto had two of his mass training brawls, and found himself and his clones using the new techniques he'd only just seen in his dreams. They were poorly executed and completely uncoordinated starting out, but they started to improve noticeably by the end of the fights. He also continued to train in secret with the blades.

Kakashi took it upon himself to lay Zabuza and Haku to rest. He prepared the bodies and had his ninken dig the holes. He couldn't stop Naruto from being there, but he did manage to keep him from being more than an observer. Sasuke, and by extension Sakura, showed up as the two were placed in the earth and stood silently by Naruto to watch. Naruto provided the crosses, Kakashi handled the rest; Sakura offered up the flower wreathe she'd made to keep her hands and mind busy throughout the process. After Kakashi's explanation on the nature of shinobi, Naruto declared he would forge a nindo all his own. Kakashi could see similar inclinations in the eyes of his other two students, and it brought a smile to his visible eye.

Naruto had a new dream every night for the two weeks after the first one. Towards the end he was having trouble getting to sleep because he was so psyched to see the next part of the saga of the Brotherhood. The last dream came the night before their departure from Wave. In it, he watched the final war room session between Desmond and the Brotherhood before they left to face the Templars for the final time; before they all walked into their death. Desmond and the woman Lucy, his handler, celebrated their imminent demise in the way of desperate animals, and Naruto knew no more.

They decided to leave with the morning fog the day after the bridge was officially finished. Tazuna, Tsunami, Inari, and several of the workers stand facing Team 7 at the island edge of the bridge to send them off.

"Thanks to you, our bridge has finally been completed; but it's going to be awfully dull around here, once you're gone," Tazuna says to the departing shinobi.

"We've enjoyed your hospitality," Kakashi says politely with a happy eye smile. He'd have his book out, but he didn't want the fog to damage it.

"No problemo, Tazuna my man! We'll come back to visit with you sometime!" Naruto shouts happily, throwing his hands behind his head. Kakashi was definitely never introducing the blonde to coffee…or Guy. The boys' life was traumatic enough.

"You better…*sniff*" Inari says, barely holding back his (manly) tears.

"Inari…Don't let it get you down. It's okay to cry when you want to," Naruto says comfortingly to the boy.

Inari pushes back on his tears even harder and shouts, "I'm not gonna cry! B-but…but you can, Aniki…you can cry! Go Ahead!"

"Me? No way." Naruto turns around with the calm disinterest of his dark haired teammate and starts walking away. "See you."

Inari reaches out and tries to say something, but no words come to him. He drops his arms and cries silently, while his Ni-san can't see. His tears match Naruto's, which his ototou can't see. And both know they're there.

'_Boneheads.'_ Sakura, of course, thinks about the antics of the boneheads.

The group from Wave watches the heroic team of Ninja march across the bridge, its first official patrons, to slowly get absorbed by the mists.

"That boy touched little Inari's heart," Tazuna muses aloud to his companions. "And Inari touched the hearts of all the people in the village. Naruto built the bridge that eventually carried us all to hope and courage! And speaking of bridges, we still have to officially dedicate this one. And there's only one name that will fit."

"What are you going to call it father?" Tsunami asks.

"How about…The Great Naruto Bridge?" Tazuna says with a chuckle.

Tsunami giggles at her fathers' sense of humor. "Hee Hee…It's a nice name father."

Sakura and Naruto can be heard propositioning their crushes for date from within the fog. Sasuke's refusal reaches them a beat before the echo of Sakura's refusal bounces off the entire river valley.

"Are you sure Tazuna? Calling it that…!" One of the faceless and pointless workers exclaims in worry.

"Heh…quite sure. You see, I hope that in giving it that name, we'll ensure that it will stand forever. Our bridge will become super famous the world over, as a symbol of triumph and endurance! That's what I hope…and hopefully, that's how it'll be."

* * *

Naruto and Sakura are setting up the tents. Normally they wouldn't go through the trouble, but it looked like a storm was coming. Kakashi had made the call to set up camp an hour before dusk, though it looked later with the encroaching clouds. The whole area is bathed in a shadowy blanket of gloom.

Sakura finishes Kakashi's tent, having had to set it up since the Cyclops had deferred his share of work to his students while he got caught up on his reading. Again. Seriously; Sakura had seen him reach the end of the book and start all over at least twice over the course of the mission. She turns to Naruto, who is just finishing setting up his own tent. "Um, Naruto?"

Naruto looks up from hammering in his last tent spike. "Yeah Sakura-chan?"

"That…that was your first, right?" She asks. She has to swallow to control her stutter. "That guy was your first kill, your first human one?"

Naruto turns back to his tent and checks the tension on the support ropes forcefully. "Yeah," he says tonelessly.

"Wh-what was it like?"

Silence. Naruto doesn't even pretend he has anything left to do with his tent. Sakura can tell she crossed a line and is about to call him off, but he beats her to it. "It was fast. Before I even knew it, he was bleeding out." Sakura could _feel_ the blandness in Naruto's voice. His voice was calm and measured, not even a hint of emotion or care at all. It reminded Sakura of that one history teacher from the Academy who put everyone to sleep when he gave a lecture. It was the voice of someone completely detached from what they were saying. "The teachers said it comes to you in slow motion when you're about to make your first, but they're wrong. It's fast; the moment comes and goes in an instant. Maybe it would've been different if it had been a real battle and I'd been trying to kill him, but…"

Naruto's voice drags off. By now Sasuke and Kakashi had turned their full attention to the conversation. Sasuke was still working on getting the fire pit set up, but he was moving more slowly than normal, and had edged around the fire to get an eye on his teammates. Kakashi's book was still in his face, but his eye was now locked on his gennin.

"R-Really?" Sakura stutters out as she processes the revelation. "But the books-"

Naruto just shakes his head and gives Sakura his normal smile. If she knew any better, she'd say it almost seemed forced. "Maybe I'm wrong Sakura-chan. I'm not exactly a textbook example of a ninja," he chuckles. He grabs the water pail and heads off with it toward the stream.

After a minute of his remaining gennin distractedly setting up camp, Kakashi sighs and closes his book. The Powers-That-Be (me) recognize the importance of this event and amplify the inaudible thump produced by the books closing to cause the two gennin to turn to the cyclopean pervert. "Sakura, Sasuke, don't bring this up with Naruto just yet, ok? Give him some more time to work it out."

"Um, are you sure Sensei? He seems, I don't know, maybe a little…withdrawn?" Sakura asks, not sure of her own words even as she says them.

"I'm sure. The first kill is one of the hardest to reconcile yourself with. I was hoping to not have any of you deal with it for a year or two, at least, so you would be more mature and more able to handle it. That was one of my reasons for trying to get you to turn down this mission. I'm actually rather surprised that things turned out as well as they did." Kakashi heaves another sigh and then gives his students an eye smile. "For now, just give him some space so he can get everything figured out. Ok?"

"We'll give Naruto his space Sensei. Right Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asks her crush with a  
weak smile.

Sasuke "Hn's" and returns to lighting the tinder with a single strike of flint to his kunai. He proceeds to set the various stakes and stands needed to cook dinner set up around the flame. "Naruto can handle himself."

Behind a tree a few yards out Naruto lets a small smile grace his lips. He accepts the water pail from his returning clone and then sends it away to dispel itself out of hearing. Naruto slaps his stupid smile on his face and tromps back into camp. "I'm back with the water! Now time to make some ramen!"

"Naruto! You can't eat just ramen all the time, it isn't healthy!" Sakura shouts, mentally questioning what she was worried about, but secretly glad to have her teammate acting normally again.

"Le Gasp! Blasphemy! There is nothing better for you than Ramen! NOTHING!"

Sasuke watches his teammates go at it over Naruto's dining preferences, again, and just mutters "dobes," before returning to his work with a perfectly hidden upward quirk on his lips.

Kakashi lets an actual smile form under his mask while he sticks his nose back deeper into his book. The kids would be alright.

* * *

They reach the gates of Konoha in a few days, and are in the mission distribution room within the hour, facing the Sandaime and the chunnin who drew office duty that day.

Naruto, after his long absence, made his presence known in the best way he knew how. Loudly. "Hey Hokage-jiji, Iruka Sensei! We're back from our awesome mission!"

Iruka responded in kind. "Naruto! Respect Hokage-sama!"

Sarutobi…well, let's face it: He found Naruto as entertaining as Jiraiya's books. He chuckled. Or, he would have if he hadn't just taken a puff off his pipe. His current batch of tobacco was good, but not good enough to be worth choking on. So he continued puffing away, openly unfazed by the goings on of his much extended family, though his eye's did develop that odd twinkle old geezers in charge of places of power developed after a while. "Welcome back Team 7. I trust you had a safe trip?"

Kakashi looks up from his book momentarily. "Yes Hokage-sama. Our return from Wave was uneventful. You received my report?"

"Yes," Sarutobi shuffles some papers around and produces a large stack of paper. "It arrived over a week ago, along with an apology letter, compensation for the mislabeled mission, and commendations for the skill and efforts of every member of your team." He puts the paper back down among its brethren. "It would appear that you got the excitement you were craving Naruto," he says with a grandfatherly grin.

Naruto puts his hands behind his head and smiles like the fox he is. "Ehehe. Yep."

There is a crash as Konohamaru slams the door to the room open. He rushes in scarf flying, Moegi and Udon in tow, Ebisu hot on their heels and panting from the exertion of keeping up with the bra- Honorable Grandson and co. "Aha! There you are my rival! What happened on your mission? Did you learn any cool moves? Huh? Huh?"

"It was an awesome, dangerous mission; but nothing I couldn't handle. And I do have a cool new technique to show you." He turns to the Hokage. "Uh…"

Sarutobi nods assent, conveniently hiding his ever growing smile beneath the brim of his oversized hat. It was a good hat. "Team 7, dismissed."

"**Alright!**" Konohamaru and Naruto run off with Udon and Moegi, Ebisu following to try and keep an eye on his student.

As the rest of the team starts to follow, Sarutobi coughs. "Kakashi, a word?"

Sakura and Sasuke turn to their Sensei and take his nod as a further dismissal and leave.

The old man empties his pipe, stuffs it with fresh tobacco, lights it, and takes a puff. He then turns his serious 'I'm-da-boss' face back on. The antics of youth aside, he still had business to conduct. "You may begin your oral report on your observations of Naruto Uzumaki and the Kyuubi's seal, Kakashi."

Kakashi, in deference to the serious face, put away his book. "Yes, Hokage-sama."

* * *

"See ya Teuchi-osan, Hokage-jiji, Iruka Sensei, Konohamaru, Ayane-chan!" Naruto shouts over his shoulder as he leaves the Ichiraku Ramen stand later that night.

Naruto and Konohamaru had run into the Hokage and Iruka as they were making their way back towards the Hokage Tower after they'd ditched Ebisu for the fifth time. Elite tutor jounin that he was, the man wasn't a master tracker. Naruto even before the recent upgrade was a master of deception and knew every nook, cranny, and loose board in Konoha. One short trip to the girls changing area at the bath house in Orioke no Jutsu form and a scream of pervert had been all it took to get him off the tricksters' backs. Konohamaru was still praising Naruto for his acting talents when they ran into the two older ninja and the suggestion of Ichiraku for dinner was offered. Naruto spent the evening regaling his surrogate family with the full, embellished tale of the Wave mission and his first kill. Konohamaru was the only one who bought the obviously fake story of an incredible battle and deserved death for the bandit. Iruka even went so far as to say Naruto should quit being a ninja and take up as an actor or a writer. That one caught quite a few laughs from everyone.

Naruto had to leave earlier than he wanted so he'd be up in time for his daily meeting with Kakashi; though he'd probably spend some time working with the hidden blades in the woods and show up an hour late, he thought to himself. It wasn't like Kakashi would be on time, and he could use that time getting used to the weapons. Maybe he'd grab a book or a scroll to read during the rest of the wait…

Then Naruto's eye caught a pattern of objects that made the new processes in his mind practically scream. It was really just a pile of trash stacked next to a low wall, but all Naruto's eyes could see was three steps to the top of the wall, and from there ten more steps over five obstacles to place him on the roof. To a child it was a neat revelation, to a ninja it was a potential route for use in an emergency, and to an assassin it was the only _real_ way to travel.

To Naruto, it was a decision that could only be made in the blink of an eye. And to him, the only person ever to possess all three unique mindsets at once, it was no more difficult a question to answer than Ayane-chan's "Would you like another bowl, Naruto-kun?"

He gave himself a running start.

The first step is a crate to boost him up to the top of a dumpster, then a grab for the edge of the wall while hopping off and he was balancing atop the wall. He didn't stop there. Two steps and he was at the intersect with the building, then it was up a pipe, a hop sideways into a window frame and further hop to grab the base of a balcony and then he pulled himself up onto its railing. Three steps around the rail to the lowest edge of the eaves and with a single heave his foot was up and he followed it to the roof. "Heeey, I can see my house from here!" That was all the encouragement Naruto needed to keep moving.

Naruto sets foot on no less than ten buildings in his air trek to his apartment building. He goes up and down levels, whether he meant to or not, with a swiftness and grace he didn't know he could manage, using the memories of the assassins within him as a guide and otherwise doing what he did best: winging it. Being able to stick to the walls with chakra when he misjudged a jump helps.

He eventually makes it to the roof of his building and crouches at the top of the tallest water barrel. He just stays there, motionless, calm, and happy, sweeping his eyes over the whole beautiful expanse of Konohagakure no Kuni, his home, his protectorate. _'I will keep it safe,'_ he swears to himself. _'From without,'_ he places his hand over his stomach,_ 'and within.'_

He makes his way down from the roof and to his apartment's lone window. He follows his normal routine and gets into bed, frog hat firmly in place, and dreams.

* * *

OMAKE

Ayane-chan's perverted monologue.

"See ya Teuchi-osan, Hokage-jiji, Iruka Sensei, Konohamaru, Ayane-chan!" Naruto shouts over his shoulder as he leaves the Ichiraku Ramen stand.

Sarutobi and Iruka would have followed the blonde immediately, but they first had to figure out the bill with Teuchi. Konohamaru was tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for the old men to hash it out. And the star of this piece, Ayane, was in back furiously washing dishes.

'_Ooooh, why did so many people have to be here tonight?'_ she thinks heatedly. _'Naruto-kun even put me last on the list for goodbyes! I was so busy serving everyone I didn't get to give Naruto-kun's story much attention. I know I missed parts all over the place. And I didn't even get the slightest chance to comfort him during the bad parts or cheer him on during the good ones!' _She picks up the last bowl from the sink, one of Naruto's, and slowly starts buffing it clean with a cloth. _'Why did he have to be so charming and sweet and strong and funny and have such a cute smile and be so hot when he got serious? Dammit, why did he have to be so much younger than me! Sure, he's already a full gennin, and he's survived his first A-rank mission, and he's apparently made his first kill, but he's still so young!' _In Ayane's distracted internal monologue, her hands had started doing…interesting things to the bowl in her hands. _'If only he were three years older or I was three years younger then it wouldn't be such a scandalous relationship, Jinchuriki or no Jinchuriki!'_ By now the bowl was clean and her hands had absentmindedly moved on to the cooking utensils and were now making even more interesting cleaning motions over them. _'I'd run my hands through his sun kissed blonde hair and stare into his sky blue eyes. I'd plant my lips over every inch of his whiskers and his breathtaking lips. I'd taste every bit of that pure, unblemished, delicate skin over his muscular, developing torso and make him call me "Nee-chan." And then I'd-'_ "Ouch!" Ayane comes out of her dangerously descriptive daydream and drops the knife she just cut herself on back into the water. She sticks her injured finger in her mouth to suck on it and try to stop the bleeding.

"Ayane-chan you done back there? It's almost closing time," Teuchi calls from the front of the stand.

"Yeah Dad. Just about." She quickly rinses off the last knife and drains the water from the sink. She checks to make sure she didn't miss anything, then hangs up her apron, still sucking on her finger. She really had to stop thinking about Naruto-kun when she was doing chores. She would have all the time in the world to fantasize about him when she got back home and could break out Mr. Orange and her photo collection to help speed things along. She grabs a bandage from the first aid kit and applies it as she steps out front. "Ok, dad. I'm done. Let's go."

"Did you cut yourself again?" Teuchi asks as he locks up. "You've really gotta stop dreaming about boys when you're doing dishes. Or at least make sure you clean all the knives first."

"Dad!" Ayane shrieks as her face flushes at the comment. "I was not-!"

Teuchi just laughs at making his daughter blush and starts towards home, Ayane fuming a few steps behind him.

* * *

…Hmm, yeah.

OK, I need at least ten suggestions to form a pool for the upcoming C-Rank. If I don't have at least ten reviewer suggestions, the next 2-4 chapters are going to take a _looooooooooonnng_ time. I only have two and still need eight more.

Also, I've got a pairing I'm favoring, but am open to any new ideas, as it'll be a long time before I lay the groundwork, and much longer before it gets anywhere. I'm also opening up my options for Sasuke, because right now it's looking like SasuSaku.

Douglass Fargo's GD personnel file includes the phrase 'Inappropriately pressed button' 38 times. Can't you do it just once? Or more?

Do what's right. Review tonight.


	6. Chapter 6

OK, I finally got the ten ideas I asked for. I've made my decision and this is the result. Thanks go out to itchaitchacritic, Savanin, Ultimate-Zelda-fan, Skeiron, Mr D Knight Of the Woo, RIOSHO, MWkillkenny84, Dylan Millwood, Keeper of Storms, and lordtoastkage.

I noticed a few irregularities that I wanna slap myself for. I forgot how I was gonna set the timeline, so Naruto reminisced about Zabuza's burial in the first chapter, and went to his funeral in the fifth. My bad. Also, Desmond made the tutorial for his descendents after the women had been impregnated. I'll Word of God this to say that he jumped into an Animus and downloaded that scene as a message to relay to his future heirs. Kinda like what that previous Animus subject did, but not really that at all.

Also, this story will now change from my eclectic past&present tense to the more straightforward past tense.

I still own no one, as of yet. Enjoy.

* * *

The two weeks following Team 7's return to Konoha became a simple routine for them. They waited half the morning for Kakashi to show up, did some light training or a few teamwork exercises to warm up, broke for lunch, then ran through a D-rank mission or two, followed by whatever individual training/socializing they each felt like doing that night.

Naruto's dream-memories repeated themselves, though their order and content became less and less defined as time progressed, often merging scenes from different dreams and diverting onto tangents into unscripted areas. Usually this involved rewriting a battle to suit Naruto's style and beliefs or reliving one of Ezio Auditore's nocturnal escapades, substituting Ezio with himself and the many, many women he…encountered with ones Naruto was more familiar with. He couldn't talk to or look at Sakura or Ayame for three days after one particularly intense dream. There was also the dream about the giant bowl of kitsuneudon that was trying to eat him, but that one had been plaguing Naruto most of his life, so he ignored it.

Naruto's individual training was also progressing nicely. Though many of the weapon techniques and counters from his dreams weren't available to him thanks to his lack of many of the weapons—and height impairment—he had excelled in his training with the hidden blades and Eagle Vision. That blasted cat was a lot easier to track when it was glowing like a golden beacon, and even Sakura and Sasuke noticed a marked improvement in his taijutsu when Kakashi had them spar. One thing Naruto found himself doing often was running laps throughKonoha, going up and down buildings in new and interesting ways. But he didn't do this for training; no, he did it because it helped his chaotic mind find peace. It helped him organize his thoughts after a trying day of training and missions. Puzzling out his climb focused his mind and the wind in his hair calmed his nerves. And the view from the highest peaks of Konoha, where only birds and ninja could reach, was truly breathtaking.

Then one day, while waiting for Kakashi on the bridge, absentmindedly tossing a kunai at a tree and having a clone toss it back, Naruto said to his team, "Is anyone else as bored as I am?"

"Nobody is as anything as you are Naruto," Sakura sighed. "But you're right. Nothing interesting has happened in days. Right Sasuke-kun?"

"Hn," the Uchiha grunted in agreement from his spot leaning on the railing next to Sakura. He was spared from further conversation with Kakashi's arrival.

"Good Morning~" Kakashi began, only to be interrupted by a dual shout of **"It's afternoon!"** He didn't let it deter him. "I stopped to help a cat out of a tree-"

"**You used that one last week!"**

"…hum. Well! Time to go get a mission! Meet me at the mission office." That said, Kakashi vanished with a 'poof' and small explosion of smoke. Naruto and Sakura steamed over their sensei's habits the entire walk to the Hokage's tower, but even Naruto had cooled down by the time they reached the mission distribution office itself.

The three young ninja walked into the office and lined up in front of their sensei. Sakura blanched to see him already nose deep in his perverted novel. "Team Seven reporting for a mission," the cyclops said calmly without taking his eye from his book.

"And no more stupid chores!" Naruto shouted, pointing dramatically at the Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen. "Give us something good this time old man!"

The rest of Team 7, and most of the older ninja in the room, rolled their eyes at Naruto's predictable disregard for such social norms as respect for ones superiors. All but one, that is.

One of the chunin on duty, a young-ish kunoichi in a pink kimono with long curly black hair and oval glasses named Suzume, abruptly stood and slammed her hands on the table to reprimand the offenders on Team 7. "You watch what you say in front of Hokage-sama, Uzumaki! And you Hatake-san! Put away that vulgar piece of filth!"

"...um, lady, who are you exactly?" Naruto asked with crossed arms and tilted head.

"What?" She asked the blonde dumbly before replying heatedly, "I've been a teacher at the academy for five years! You were in some of my classes!"

"Ano, Suzume-sensei, you taught the girls classes mostly. And you only subbed for Iruka-sensei a few times, so..." Sakura offered cautiously to try and defuse the situation.

"Wait! Now I remember! You're the strict old lady who made me stand in the hall for sleeping through her lecture!" Naruto declared while pointing dramatically, and rudely, at her.

"OLD LADY!? I'm only 28 you snot nosed brat!" she yelled, shaking her fist in womanly rage at Naruto.

"Ahem." Sarutobi interrupted, making the chunin teacher blush at her rash actions, and hastily sit down and compose herself. "Now where were we?"

Sasuke spoke up. "I hate agreeing with him, but the Dobe's right. These little missions aren't doing us any good. We need something harder."

Sarutobi considered the genin in front of him carefully for several seconds. "I see. So you would all like another C-ranked mission then?" Naruto nodded vigorously, Sasuke nodded (coolly), and Sakura hesitated, but nodded as well. "Hm. Well, there is something simple enough I can give you I suppose. It's another escort mission, though it shouldn't be quite as...eventful as your last one. Will that suffice?"

"Haha! That's great Jiji!" Naruto cheered happily. "Even if it's just an escort, it's way better than walking dogs and picking up trash! And maybe we'll get to fight somebody!"

"Naruto! Don't jinx it!" Sakura yelled angrily.

"Don't worry Sakura-kun," the Hokage chuckled good-naturedly. "The person you'll be escorting is a ninja from Takigakure, the Village of Hidden Waterfall, so he and Kakashi-kun should be able to handle any situations that arise. Please send in the client," he called to a side door of the office.

A young man entered from the client waiting room. He wasn't noticeably tall, about Kakashi's height with a similar lean build and fair features. He was wearing a teal t-shirt with a high collar and a black stripe up the center, a single pauldron on his left shoulder held on by a black leather belt, black fingerless gloves, and grey pants and black sandals of the design most shinobi favored. His straight black hair hung past his shoulders and was mostly held out of his eyes by a hitai-ate with a blue band marked with a wide arrow.

"This is Shibuki-san, the new leader of Takigakure," the Hokage introduced. "The former leader, his father, recently passed on, so he came here to assure the continuation our treaties with his village. You'll be escorting him back home."

Kakashi bowed respectfully to the foreign dignitary. Sakura did a double take at how quickly his book had disappeared. He was still buried in it not a second ago! "Hello. I'm Hatake Kakashi, and this is my team: Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto, and Uchiha Sasuke."

Sakura bowed respectfully. "Hello."

Naruto put his arms behind his head and grinned squinty-eyed. "Yo!"

Sasuke…"Hn."

Shibuki turned to Sarutobi with a frown. "No disrespect Hokage-san, but I was expecting something...more."

Kakashi preempted Naruto's indignant rebuttal with a hand on his head. Kakashi eye-smiled reassuringly to their new client. "Don't worry yourself, Shibuki-san. For a leisurely walk to Takigakure we should suffice. If anything comes up, my team and I can handle it."

He gave the children another speculative look, but shrugged his concerns off. Even though he'd hoped for something a little more dignified than a green genin team, having _the_Sharingan Kakashi as escort more than made up for it. "I see. In that case, take good care of me," He said, lightly bowing to Team 7.

"You'll be safe in our care," Kakashi nodded back. He then turned to Team 7 and said, "OK team, meet at the North gate in one hour. Pack for a week on the road."

Sakura and Naruto responded with a firm "Yes" and excited "Yeah!" respectively. Sasuke… "Hn." (Vibrant vocabulary, this one.)

* * *

A little more than an hour later, just out of sight of the village gates, Naruto finally let out his (badly) bottled excitement in his favorite way. Loudly. "Wahoo! Yes! Mission! We're finally on another big mission!"

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted in annoyance at the blondes antics. "What are you getting so worked up about!?"

He turned to her with his face-splitting smile and said, "Training of course!"

In an odd show of synchronicity, his entire team raised an eyebrow at his response. Shibuki just tilted his head in confusion. "Eh?" they all queried.

"Well, I was thinking that the last time Kakashi-Sensei taught us anything really cool and useful was on our last big out of village mission, so I figured if we went on another one he'd teach us something new and awesome!" he explained.

Everyone blinked at him wide eyed, then turned to look at Kakashi. "He's right you know," Sakura said.

"You haven't taught us any new techniques since the Wave Mission," Sasuke agreed.

"See! Even Sasuke agrees with me!" Naruto cheered.

"He agreed with you earlier Naruto," Kakashi sighed.

The blonde thought about that for a second, then punched the air with another shout. "Twice in one day; that's a new record!"

Kakashi glanced around at his genin and then at their client. He tapped his chin in thought while looking up. "Hm, I suppose you are right," he conceded. He then bent over in his talking-to-the-little-genin pose, leaning forward with a pleasant eye-smile so he was almost eye level with them. "So maybe I'll teach you something if things go smoothly from here on, OK?"

"Woop!" Smile. Guess who; you'll probably get it right.

With that settled, Kakashi switched back to his all-business tome. "Now get back in formation. We've still got a lot of ground to cover before we set up camp."

"Right!" Naruto shouted, taking point two meters ahead, followed wordlessly by Sasuke at the midpoint, with Sakura falling back a meter behind the adults.

"These students of yours are an interesting bunch," Shibuki said to Kakashi as the moved on. "I mean, aren't kids their age normally not even allowed out on missions like this?"

"Well," Kakashi hedged as his nose trailed into his little orange book, "normally, no. But, my students are quite special."

Naruto promptly tripped on a rock.

"Quite special indeed," Kakashi finished with a sweatdrop that match Shibuki's.

It was several hours of quick marching before they stopped to set up camp beside a quiet lake that evening. All of them being shinobi, their 'quick march' had let them cover a distance most caravans would take a full day to match.

Once the camp had been set up, Kakashi assembled his students at the edge of the lake and began his new technique lesson with a question. "Firstly…you can all swim, right?"

The boys glared at their sensei for his blatant stalling tactic. Sakura, ever the studious student, played along to get things moving. "You already know we can swim Sensei. What does that have to do with this training though?"

"Because if you can't swim you might drown," Kakashi said grimly. He expertly hid his grin at his students' shocked reactions behind his mask. "For this training we'll be going for a little walk-" he paused for a breath—and to savor their glares, "-on the lake." And it was back to shock. God he loved playing with these kids emotions; they made it so easy and never disappointed him. Deciding to move things along, Kakashi assumed the basic chakra gathering pose—back straight, feet spread, right hand over left in the ram seal—then turned around and strolled out onto the lake. When he turned around Naruto and Sakura's awe was more than apparent, and even Sasuke's surprise had managed to slip past his Uchiha defenses. He truly cherished moments like this; it was his favorite part of teaching by far.

Naruto was practically vibrating in excitement. His head was spinning with all the ways he could use this new skill. Which to use first: show off to Iruka-Sensei for free ramen, or show off for to Hokage-jiji for free ramen, or maybe…

Sasuke just smirked in anticipation. His only thought, _"One step closer…"_

While the boys were daydreaming, Sakura found her voice. "That…that's the technique you and Zabuza-san were using," she said. The mention of the fallen shinobi snapped the boys from their delusions of grandeur and revenge respectively.

Kakashi eye-smiled at her. "Correct, Sakura. This is an advanced chakra control exercise called Water Walking. It's very similar to the Tree Climbing you've already done. Except that it's about ten times harder."

"**Ten times?!"** Naruto and Sakura shrieked.

Kakashi chuckled quietly. "Yep. With the tree climbing, you needed to use a constant amount of chakra to stay attached to the tree. Here you need to do that as well, but also expel a constant amount of your charka down into the water to stay afloat. It's very difficult to find the right flow of chakra and at the same time to constantly adjust your balance so you don't fall in. Now, begin."

The three nodded and immediately entered the chakra gathering pose as Kakashi had and focused their chakra to their feet. A moment later they moved forward confidently and as one stepped out onto the water.

Sakura stumbled at first, but steadied quickly. Naruto made it two steps before he started sinking and tried correcting by adding more chakra, but overbalanced himself and ended up doing a spinning back flip into the lake. Sasuke got a little further than Naruto before he sank in up to his chest.

"Sakura, impressive as always," Kakashi said with an eye-smile at his female student. "Naruto, Sasuke...keep working on it. Once you're all standing, I want you to run across the lake and back, just to get a feel for it. It's still two days until we reach Takigakure so you'll have plenty of other opportunities to train. Sakura, you can get started while the boys get their sea legs." So saying, he returned to camp, already flipping through his little orange book in search of his previous place.

Sakura began her jog over the lake while Sasuke and Naruto continued trying to stand on the water. After about five minutes of trying, both boys managed to stay on top of the water, though there was much wobbling involved. Once they were both standing they shot each other a look. And then they started running.

Meanwhile, Kakashi had perched on a large rock where he could keep a weather eye on his students' progress. If he hadn't been eye-deep in his little orange book that is. Shibuki, however, was watching the kids train."Wow, that's pretty impressive," he said with genuine surprise. "They haven't been at it ten minutes and they've already gotten a solid grasp on it."

"Like I said before: they're special kids." Kakashi said from the confines of his book. He looked up from his book at the sound of two simultaneous splashes and a mild, but loud, curse to find Naruto and Sasuke trying to pull themselves back onto the lake surface from where they were treading water. Kakashi briefly debated not calling them special anymore, but promptly dismissed the idea when Naruto overbalanced and caused him and Sasuke to fall back into the drink. It was much funnier this way.

By now Sakura had finished her jog with no problem, so Kakashi sent her on another few laps before having her stop to help prepare diner. She was breathing harder than he liked when she finished. Though he was impressed at her development so far, he truly hoped that she would find a source of real motivation soon; otherwise her teammates would leave her so far behind that she'd never be able to catch up to even their shadows at sunset.

* * *

After an hour of falling in more times than they cared to count, Naruto and Sasuke finally decided to take a brake. And by 'brake', I mean that they collapsed in the middle of the lake from exhaustion. Neither had managed to gain an appreciable lead on the other, despite their best efforts. Naruto was content to float idly in the still water, but Sasuke had managed to reach a sitting position on a submerged log. Both were breathing hard as they tried to catch their breath.

"You know *huff* I wonder if we could *pant* use this to dry off *huff* after falling *gasp* in?" Naruto asked Sasuke around his attempts to breathe.

Sasuke took a moment to compose himself before answering. With a deep breath he smoothed his face into the Uchiha mask and slowly grunted out, "Hn, probably. Sensei will know."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence as they let the lake cool their burning muscles. They were about to get back to training when Sakura's voice floated to them across the water. "Naruto, Sasuke-kun, come back to camp! Diners ready!" she called from camp.

"Coming, Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted back as he switched from floating to treading water and waving. Before he could pull himself back to the top of the water he was distracted by a twitching form on the lakeshore a dozen meters to the left of their camp, peaking his foxish curiosity. "Hey, what's that?"

Sasuke glanced at the blonde and grunted, "Hm?" No that isn't a typo. He really did say 'hm'.

"Over there, on the shore. I think it's a bird." Sasuke looked and his sharp eyes quickly found what Naruto's had. It was indeed a large bird flapping disjointedly on the near shore. When he looked back Naruto had already recovered his footing on the water and started making his way over to it. Sasuke sighed and followed after his teammate to make sure the bird didn't hurt him…too much.

As they approached the shore they both got a good look at the bird that had stopped hopping around at last and sprawled out on the ground. It was a hawk, and judging by the angle its right wing was hanging at, even to their inexperienced eyes, a badly injured one.

"We should bring it back to camp. Kakashi-sensei will know how to help it for sure," Naruto said as he began to approach the panting bird.

"Wait, Naruto-" Sasuke tried to warn his fri…teammate that a silent raptor wasn't a safe one—especially an injured one—but he was too late. As Naruto crouched to pick up the hawk, it lunged at him with a shriek. It caught him so off guard that it knocked him onto his back with the bird standing on his stomach, beating its good wing into his face distractingly while it pecked anywhere it could reach.

"Ack! Hey, Dammit, Stop That!" Sasuke grinned at the sight of his erstwhile rival getting beaten by, not just a bird, but an injured _grounded_ bird. "Ow! Stupid bird!" He watched for a few more moments before making his move. "Ahh! Not the face, not the face!" He carefully approached the bird from behind while Naruto was struggling with it and tied a spare bandana around its head. After a few moments it started to calm down. "Whew. Thanks," Naruto said as he pulled himself up, carefully cradling the bird to his chest. He made a beeline for the camp, somehow managing to cross back over the lake without sinking in or stumbling once.

As soon as they reached camp, Sakura and Kakashi got to see what had taken them so long. They raised a collective brow, but didn't question them further. After Naruto handed over the bird to Kakashi, he collapsed. Sasuke was much more composed as he picked a place around their small campfire to sit, but he still hit the ground a lot harder than he would willingly admit.

Kakashi was able to reset the dislocated wing of the injured predator with ease. He didn't even flinch at the half-squawk-half-shriek it made when he set its shoulder. Shibuki, on the other hand, jumped up with a yelp a hid behind Sakura, causing everyone to sweatdrop. Kakashi then used an unfamiliar jutsu that bathed his hand in green energy and placed it over the bird's wing. "What's that Sensei?" Sakura asked.

"This is a simple medical jutsu. It should ease the strain on his muscles and help speed the healing process," He said as he past his hand slowly down the back of the bird's wing.

Shibuki asked, "Why are you guys giving that bird so much attention?"

"Hawks like this are used as messengers in the village and people are encouraged to catch wild ones for training," Sakura explained. "Besides, it's hurt."

Shibuki just sighed. It would be a long two days until they reached his village.

* * *

Late. Very late. Oh God this is late. This was supposed to be my July update but it's almost September now. And with fall semester starting soon my time is about to be cut in half. How am I ever going to get caught up!?

Anyway, I know this isn't all that interesting for such a delayed update, but for the sake of getting _something_ out I had to cut the last scene and put it in the next chapter, and I just got tired of the details at the end. From here on in there'll be pretty much non-stop action for Naruto and co.

Enjoy! And Review!


	7. Chapter 7

I apologize to everyone who reviewed the last chapter for not getting back to you. I'm just so busy that I ended up putting it off indefinitely. I'll try getting back to people more promptly this time.

On that note, I've often wondered what I would do with flames. I've decided to publicly discredit them. Like so:

From: Fayari

"Seriously, stop interrupting the flow of the story with your imaginary conversations with Naruto. It's annoying as fuck. Great story, bad writing."

Now, you see, that is just rude. I can understand why you don't like the cheap fourth-wall humor. But here's an interesting question: if you don't like my writing style, then why did you decide to follow -not just this story- but _me_ as well? I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty hypocritical to me. Honestly though...I just don't care. About you. Or your opinion. I don't write for the feedback, no matter how much I enjoy it, but for the fun I have writing. You are just 1 person, out of 98 reviewers, out of 300 followers, out of 40,000 visitors. You don't even qualify as a statistic. Male, female, or other, you're just a whiny little bitch. Goodbye.

The moral of this: If you're going to criticize (which I do encourage) then be constructive. Or at least polite about it.

On the more positive side, these were a bit more noteworthy for one reason or another:

Ultimate-Zelda-fan – Yes, I chose your idea above everyone else's. I hope you're enjoying this as much as I am!

Uzunaru999 – I already knew about Lucy being a double agent; I saw her death coming from a good ways away. I just don't feel like retconning my story, seeing as it has no effect on its plot at all. The reminder was appreciated, though. And you seriously got 100% on all the games? Very impressive.

Guest – On your comment about Naruto and Sasuke both being exhausted after training even though Naruto has such immense chakra, here is my thought process. Naruto has up-to kage level reserves before the first time he consciously calls on the Kyuubi's power, but he has probably the worst chakra control in his entire graduating class so he ends up wasting it easily. Sasuke has much better control over much lower reserves and the two end up balancing out. But don't forget, their training isn't just physical and their exhaustion isn't just from chakra overuse They have just spent several hours intensely focusing on a single objective with slow results. How tired and aggravated would you be after two or more hours trying to stand on water by thinking at it, hmm?

That's all I had to say about that. On to the chapter. There's a lot happening in this one, so perspectives will shift frequently. To make up for the time in between a bit I made this one longer than normal. Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 7

In the morning, Kakashi determined that the hawk would be fine after a few days rest. Naruto then somehow talked him into letting him care for it. So Kakashi showed the blonde how to keep the hawk balanced on his shoulder while running. Sasuke showed him how to stroke its head to calm it, and gave him a bag of jerky to keep it distracted and content throughout the day.

"Wow Sasuke-kun. Where did you learn so much about taking care of birds?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke tensed at the question and a flicker of what might have been sorrow crossed behind his black eyes before his entire posture changed into the most vicious Uchiha-glare that his teammates had ever seen. In the moment of shocked silence that followed he turned away from them, saying, "I'll take point." With that, he rushed down the path until he was almost out of hearing range.

Kakashi sighed imperceptibly at the reaction from his dark-haired student. Glancing at the confused and anxious looks on his lighter-haired students faces, he could only hope this blew over quickly. There was no way they could have known that Sasuke's brother had been a crow summoner, after all.

Nothing more was said on the subject that day. The rest of the second day of the mission was both uninteresting and uneventful after that, so we'll wrap the day up with a montage!

Ninja running through the woods…ninja eating lunch...ninja running through a field…ninja eating diner…god, this is boring. Montage over. On to day three.

* * *

The first sign that they had arrived at the waterfall village and the end of the mission was the roar of the falls themselves.

The second sign was the two little kids running up and happily greeting Shibuki as "Shibuki-sama!"

The last and most conclusive sign was Kakashi letting Shibuki hire Team 7 to clean up the trash in the river.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Naruto shouted while waving one fist wildly and carefully feeding the hawk -now perched on a low hanging tree branch- with the other. "We're not even done with this mission and you're already hiring us out as trash collectors!?"

"Look on the bright side Naruto. At least we can get some more practice water walking," Sakura said to try and cool the rambunctious blonde's mood. Though inwardly she was just as incensed at having to take on such a stupid chore in the middle of an important mission.

"Actually, to reach the stuff on the bottom you'll have to wade in," Kakashi said with an obscene amount of pep for a grown man. Especially a seasoned assassin like him.

Naruto looked at his sensei dejectedly, then slumped into the river to start on his new 'mission,' all the while grumbling half curses at the indignity of it.

It wasn't long after they started when the cry of a hawk pierced the air. Shibuki yelped and ducked behind Kakashi from where he had been reading Make Out Violence over his shoulder.

"Don't worry, it's just a messenger hawk from Konoha," Kakashi said as he held up his arm for the hawk to land on. He pulled off the note tied to its leg and read it quickly. "Hmm…Someone's looking for me."

"Does this mean you're leaving?" Shibuki asked.

"Afraid so. But don't worry, my team can finish the clean up," He assured him. He turned and shouted to get his team's attention. "Hey! Guys! I hate to cut and run, but I'm needed in the village."

"Is something wrong, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked when she saw the hint of seriousness in his eye.

"An emergency session of the Jonin Council has been called," he said seriously. "You guys follow me as soon as you're done here."

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto called back from where he was bent over fishing for a can that had slipped under a rock. "The sooner we finish this stupid side mission, the sooner we can get back to the village for a _real_ mission."

Kakashi sighed. "Okay then. I'll see you all soon," he said as he hitched up his pack. With a flick he sent the hawk back into the air, where it made a beeline for Konoha. Then Kakashi was gone in a running blur.

An hour of wading through the river after wayward trash later, Naruto was bored out of his gourd. It was a bright sunny day, the sky was clear, the birds were chirping, and here he was stuck fishing other peoples garbage out of a river when he could be training, or doing _real_ missions, or eating ramen! He sighed, then stealthily checked to make sure no one was watching him. Sakura had taken a break and was entertaining the kids with Shibuki, and Sasuke was far enough away that Naruto was sure he couldn't see what he was about to do.

Grinning, Naruto focused and activated his Eagle Vision. Over the past few weeks he'd developed the habit of using the Eagle Vision to scan his surroundings. He told himself it was training, but he was really just looking for interesting things to alleviate his boredom. He'd found a few useful things this way, mostly dropped change and misplaced kunai and shuriken.

Now, all it showed him was clear water, empty trees, a can he'd missed outlined in gold as part of the mission objective, and a red blot quickly growing in size from behind the waterfall. He bent over to grab the can before that last thought made him freeze. He could be forgiven for his slow reaction; after all, no one had tried to kill him since Wave. He'd ever only seen that red glow in his dreams.

"Everybody get down!"

* * *

Sasuke noticed Naruto freezing a moment before he detected the approaching enemies as well.

"Everybody get down!"

Naruto beat him to the punch with the warning, but that didn't stop him from taking action. He tackled Shibuki to the ground even as Naruto fell back to the shore with a leap to land in a crouch, his hands already in the single seal he used to summon his clones. From the corner of his eye, Sasuke could see Sakura step into a ready stance in front of the two kids at the tree line, her eyes darting from the waterfall to the top of the cliff to the trees rapidly in search of their attackers, right hand in front holding a kunai, left in her weapons pouch, likely gripping a smoke bomb so she could escape with the kids if needed. It was an unimaginative textbook response, but it was flawless none the less. No hesitation born of fear in either of their stances. It was definitely an improvement over their lax reactions in the early phases of the Wave mission.

Contrary to popular belief, Sasuke didn't hate Sakura, or Naruto for that matter. He was just constantly annoyed by their incessant pestering, immaturity, and inability. If Naruto would just calm down and take things seriously and Sakura would stop asking him out every chance she got and take her training seriously, he might just be willing to treat them with more than the barest minimum of respect. Kakashi was a different matter entirely. If that lazy Cyclops didn't start training them seriously soon, Sasuke was definitely going to get Naruto to help him light a fire under him. Literally.

And speaking of Naruto, it was time to get back on track. The enemy had arrived. Four men jumped out of the waterfall, all wearing hitai-ate on their foreheads and with shuriken holsters on their right legs. The first three wore matching outfits of grey pants and jackets. The fourth man had silver hair that was spikier than Naruto's, a green stripe of paint on his nose, and brown eyes. He was wearing the same grey pants and black sandals as his team, but had traded the jacket for a sleeveless black shirt and yellow arm warmers like Zabuza's.

Sasuke's sharp black eyes were able to pick out the four vertical lines on their hitia-ate, marking them as ninja from Amegakure. That was good; if they'd actually been a welcoming party from Taki then this would have been very embarrassing. Sasuke had been pretty sure they wouldn't be, based on their speed and the hint of death in their auras, but it was always good to be sure.

Sasuke quickly took command of the situation. With a call of, "Naruto, on Shibuki!" he rushed forward onto the surface of the river to confront the four airborne Rain-nin, even as the blonde took up a defensive position with two other identical blondes around their client. The Rain-nin unleashed a barrage of kunai at them, and Sasuke just smirked at the challenge. He reached behind him and pulled his most powerful weapon, his folding fuma shuriken, from its hidden holster on his back.

He unfolded the shuriken with a sharp clang, and with a smooth chant of "Demon Windmill Shuriken," he let it fly. The black disk of bladed death cut through the air and intercepted the front line of incoming projectiles before immediately turning around to disperse the rest of the kunai. One final spontaneous course adjustment sent the shuriken careening towards the attacking ninja, who immediately began to scatter. Unfortunately for them, that's when the shuriken split into two and homed in on their fleeing forms. Only the man in the black shirt managed to dodge the attack as his three allies were cut down in front of him. He retreated behind the waterfall.

Sasuke grunted as he caught and refolded his shuriken. "Che, One got away," he said as he watched the three bodies fall into the water dispassionately. He ignored the slight tremble in his hand holding the now red-tipped fuma shuriken. With a practiced flick he shook the blood off and slid the weapon back under his shirt. He turned back to check on his teammates, only to flinch back in shock at the look of wide-eyed adoration the three Naruto's were giving him from shore.

"**Dude! Sasuke that was awesome! How did you get those shuriken to do that zig-zagging thing?!"** The Narutos shouted, practically vibrating with excitement as they mimed out Sasuke's attack, making everyone sweatdrop

A rustling in the bushes immediately set everyone back on edge. A middle-aged woman in a faded purple kimono stumbled through the trees. "Shi...Shibuki-sama," she stuttered weakly. "It was awful. They attacked...without warning-" she collapsed half way to them, revealing the kunai embedded in her back.

"Mommy!" The kids shouted worriedly as they ran to their collapsed mother, Sakura and Shibuki close behind, the Narutos and Sasuke taking subtle guard positions in case of another attack.

Sakura gave her a very quick examination-really, she just checked for a steady pulse and confirmed that the wound wasn't deep or anywhere fatal. "The wound doesn't look too bad. She's just unconscious," she told everyone.

Sasuke took lead. "Sakura, you're the best at first aid. Treat the woman, then get her and the kids out of here. The rest of us will go to the village and take care of these guys."

"Wh-What?! What are you saying?! Your mission's over! Go home!" Shibuki shouted, the young village head trying to cover his panic with anger.

"Konoha ninja don't abandon their allies," Sasuke said with such serious finality that it froze Shibuki in place. The kids -and Sakura- meanwhile sprouted identical starry eyed expressions with the shared thought, _**"He's so cool!"**_

Shibuki was conflicted. These kids, these rookie gennin, had detected and reacted to an attack before he, a village leader, could. The blonde had summoned solid clones in the blink of an eye without effort. The Uchiha had deflected an overwhelming attack and slain three enemy ninja with a single attack. The girl hadn't participated in the fight, but she had mastered the water walk in two steps, which was an astounding feat in itself. _'Well,'_ he thought, '_I could definitely do a lot worse.'_ "Fine," he groused. He didn't want to do it, but with Fuu out of the village -which is the only way a successful invasion could even hope to occur- he'd need all the help he could get.

Naruto turned to his two clones. "You two stay and help Sakura-chan guard these guys!" He said in a hammed up authoritative voice.

Both saluted sharply and said, "**Yes sir! Boss sir!"**

With a final plea to stay safe from Sakura following them, Shibuki led the boys behind the waterfall.

* * *

Sakura sighed as she finished treatment on the woman, tying the last bandage and rearranging her kimono. She turned to the kids and smiled reassuringly. "Your mom is going to be okay."_ 'After she's seen a proper doctor,' _she thought privately. '_Fortunately it wasn't that bad an injury. She was lucky the kunai got stuck in a rib. An inch off center and it would have slipped by the bone and pierced her lung. Like last time.'_

Sakura clasped her hands to keep them from shaking as the memory of Sasuke's kunai riddled body rose up. This was just like the mission to Wave. The boys jumped right into the fighting and she was left to sit back and watch. She was too weak to fight alongside them. She hated this. She was a ninja too, dammit!

She sighed again and composed herself. She knew, logically, that what she was doing by looking after the civilians who couldn't fight was just as important as what the boys were doing by confronting the enemy, but she just wished that she was strong enough to stand beside them, not behind them. To fight alongside them.

A nearby 'poof' pulled her from her pessimistic thoughts. She turned to see one of Naruto's clones in pitched taijutsu combat with a man, probably an enemy jounin. He was wearing a baggy gray shirt under blue overalls, black sandals, a grey bandana over black hair, and a black half-face mask like Kakashi-sensei's. The quickly dissipating smoke cloud surrounding a kunai embedded in a nearby tree told her the fate of the other clone.

She could feel the fear rising up inside her again, but she was able to reign in her urge to panic. The mission to Wave took her through the gamut of fear: everything from her own death to that of her first love. She knew that anything short of Zabuza himself wouldn't make her freeze up this time. With her resolve hardened she prepared to move her charges out of the line of fire. A branch snapping behind her -opposite the dueling shinobi- derailed her plans.

She turned around and had a kunai in her hand so fast that she swore she heard some of her own joints pop from the strain. Leaning on a nearby tree was one of the men from the waterfall. His clothes were still wet from the river and stained red on his right side where he was clutching the wound from Sasuke's fuma shuriken. He was panting and sweat was beading on his pale face and bald head from the blood loss and shock. His free hand held a kunai in a white-knuckled grip.

"I kill you," he gasped, "and they won't kill me for screwing up!" He lunged at her with a wild yell.

For a moment everything seemed to stop. A bead of sweat hung suspended in midair. A heart skipped a beat. A girl who never stopped thinking found her mind frozen by the fear she thought she had mastered. All she could see was the look of incredible pain and desperation on the charging man's face. And then the world sped back up, and the little girl who thought she was a ninja did the only thing she could do: she closed her eyes and struck in a blind panic.

On any other day against any other opponent, she would have died pitifully. But today, against an opponent delirious with pain and blood loss, his senses dulled by shock, her blind strike found purchase in her enemy's undamaged side. The splatter of blood from the wound striking her face made her open her eyes in time to see the results of her attack.

The man stumbled back two shaky steps before finally falling to the ground in a lifeless heap. Sakura's eyes slid from the slowly growing pool of blood under the man, down to her still outstretched arm and kunai. Her blood soaked weapon was of much less interest to her than the splatter on her naked arm, which reminded her of the feeling that made her open her eyes in the first place. She slowly reached up and touched her face, and when she pulled it away to find her hand coated in the blood she expected to find, she started hyperventilating.

Before the panic attack could properly set in, an unfamiliar hand was placed on her shoulder, and an unfamiliar voice said, "Nicely done. Thanks for saving us the trouble of killing him ourselves."

Sakura slowly turned her head to look at the man standing behind her, the one she saw fighting Naruto's clone before. Up close she could see the demented look in his eyes that screamed madness and a cruel lust for the pain and suffering of others. She was spared the humiliation of fainting by a quick chop to the neck.

The man walked over to the dead shinobi and sneered at him through his mask. "Useless trash," he said as he kicked the cooling body of his former comrade. He turned to his men, one with the old woman slung over his shoulder, another with the unconscious kids under his arms, and the third moving to pick up Sakura. He pointed to the last man and said, "You, take care of this body. The rest will help me cart the others back to the village. It should be just about time for the show, hehehehehehehe!"

* * *

After following Shibuki through the underwater maze behind the waterfall, the guys finally surfaced in the central lake of Takigakure. The village was set in a large bowl scooped straight out of the earth, with high stone cliffs bordering it on all sides. On the shores of the lake there were buildings, homes, and fields stretching up to the cliffs. In the center of the lake was a small island, and on that island was what had to be the largest, oldest tree in the world. The trunk was as wide around as a city block, and it rose up as high as the tops of the cliffs, its branches so wide that they stretched over the edges of the cliffs on all sides, but sparse enough that a lot of light still filtered in between the branches.

Naruto took a moment to marvel at the sight, then followed silently after Sasuke and Shibuki towards the shore of the village. Halfway out of the water on the shore, Naruto froze and paled. He quickly went back over the memories of his clones to be sure, and paled some more. There was no doubt: Sakura had been attacked. "Dammit," he swore. "Sasuke! Sakura's in trouble!"

"What are you talking about? And keep your voice down, dobe," Sasuke hissed.

"Teme!" Naruto whisper-growled. He shook off the coming argument and got back on track. "My clones were just taken out by some guy while Sakura was fighting one of the guys from before! Her and the others are in trouble!"

"How can you possibly know that?" Sasuke asked skeptically.

Naruto started to shout something, then paused as a thought crossed his mind. He sweatdropped and said, "Oh, uh, right. I forgot to tell you guys about that."

"About _what_?" Sasuke growled in annoyance.

"That when a Kage Bunshin is dispelled everything they learned is sent back to me?" Naruto said quickly while rubbing the back of his neck and smiling nervously.

Sasuke's scowl and the angry tic on his forehead told Naruto that his teammate was currently stuck between envisioning all the uses for such an ability, berating Naruto for forgetting to mention it, and demanding he teach it to him so he could throttle him with four hands. He was saved from whatever Sasuke was going to say when another three-man team of Rain-nin attacked them.

Sasuke happily redirected his anger at the new threat. Singling out the nearest ninja, a pale faced young man with long black hair wearing a purple vest over a long sleeved black shirt, Sasuke slipped under his swung kunai and inside his guard. A quick series of punches followed by a powerful kick sent the older ninja flying into a nearby house with a red tile roof. He turned to check on Naruto just in time to watch two pairs of him connect with joint axe kicks that sent the other enemies to unconsciousness. The fight lasted only a few moments.

With the immediate danger handled Sasuke looked around for Shibuki, only to find no trace of the Waterfall shinobi. Spotting his opponent getting back up, he cursed inwardly and made a judgment call. "Naruto! Go after Shibuki; I'll handle these guys then follow you," he shouted to his teammate. He cut off the question he knew was coming with, "Sakura can take care of herself, now Go!" For once the blonde didn't question him and dove back into the lake to find their client. Sasuke gave his opponent his full attention, drawing a kunai and taking a ready stance.

The Rain-nin drew another kunai and charged at Sasuke. The Uchiha easily evaded the strikes, waiting for the opportune moment to counterattack. It soon came when his opponent overextended a thrust that would have taken Sasuke's eye if he hadn't ducked just enough to let the blade whisper over his hair. Sasuke lunged forward with his own stab that sunk his kunai to the hilt in his opponent's ribcage and into his heart.

Sasuke couldn't help the grin the creased his lips. That had been almost too easy. Calming his breathing, Sasuke looked up at the man's face, but froze once he saw his eyes. The cold, lifeless look of helplessness and surprise on his face immediately caused Sasuke to flash back to that dark night 4 years ago. It was the same look each of his relatives had in their eyes in his nightmares.

That brief pause was all it took for two new opponents to ambush him. Even though he recovered and managed to jump back from his dead opponent, it was already too late. Twin bands of water came from either side and wrapped him in a tight bind. He struggled against the grip and managed to move so he could see both of his assailants. One was the guy who dodged his fuma shuriken at the waterfall, the other was a brunette woman with short hair held back by a white hairband, wearing a pink tube top with red trim, a half-zipped short teal and white coat with very wide sleeves clinging loosely to her arms, dark blue spandex shorts with a shuriken holster tied to her right leg, and black ninja sandals.

_"They caught me before I could even sense their presence," _Sasuke thought while struggling. _"These guys are good."_

"Oooh. You're not bad at all, kid," the woman taunted.

"You didn't really think it would be as easy this time, did you?" the man laughed.

"Shall we cut him in half now, or let him suffer first?" The woman teased with an evil smirk and a playful tug that made Sasuke gasp.

"Wait. He might come in handy when we negotiate," a new, grating voice said from behind Sasuke.

_"Who's this?"_ the young ninja thought, turning to see the newcomer out the corner of his eye while trying to keep the other two enemies in sight. It was an older man than the others, wearing black ninja sandals, grey pants, and a blue-grey longcoat left open at the bottom and buttoned back for greater mobility. His hair was a wild black mess that made Naruto's hair look tame and was barely contained by a dirty-yellow bandana. His dark eyes, goatee, and malevolent smirk just screamed evil mastermind.

The next thing Sasuke knew was pain as he was electrified. With his last moment of consciousness he cursed his own inability, and prayed that Naruto and Sakura would be fine without him.

* * *

Forgotten on its perch in a tree overlooking the river and waterfall, the hawk watched.

He watched as the female human with the cherry-blossom colored fur tail on its head was attacked by one of the injured humans from before. He watched as it killed the other human to protect the two hatchlings, but was defeated by another, stronger human, whose pack took it, the two hatchlings, and the older injured nest-mother away.

He knew the cherry-blossom-human needed help. The sun-furred fox-human that'd helped him had left with the raven-furred duck-headed human and the skittish brown-furred human behind the waterfall to hunt the weird humans who attacked them earlier, so they were out of his reach. But maybe their alpha, the moonlight-furred dog-human with one eye who had fixed his wing could help? It had followed after his kin from the southern forests, so he should be able to find it; his wing was feeling much better now. But how to make the dog-human follow him back here?

The pondering hawk looked around for anything that might get the dog-human's attention. Its sharp eyes fell on the glinting thing on the ground near where the cherry-blossom-human had killed one of the weird humans, and it grinned like a…well, a hawk.

* * *

A/N

It's finally done! I've been working on this chapter for months, trying to force my way through everything that I needed to get in it. Sakura and Sasuke's kill-scenes were the hardest to write and held me up the longest. I hated writing them, but they were important for what I have planned for Team 7. Please tell me what you thought of them...and the rest of the scenes while you're at it.

To make up for the time in between, this is the longest chapter of the story thus-far! God I hope the rest are easier to write.

* * *

OMAKE

The five ninja and one hawk were sitting around the ampfire on their second night out. They would reach Takigakure, and the end of their mission, early the next day. But for now, they were engaging in some casual conversation.

"You actually read the textbooks Naruto?" Sakura asked skeptically.

Conversation that amounted to questioning the idiocy of one of their teammates.

"Of course I did!" Naruto rebutted. "I spent hours studying and training every day. I just always had trouble with tests and stuff. Oh, and my chakra control sucked."

"Really? That's all?" She deadpanned.

Not getting it, the blonde continued with an all-knowing nod. "Yep. It took me a week to master the control for tree climbing, but only a few hours to master the Kage Bunshin, which relies more on power than control."

Sakura decided to ask a question that had been bugging her ever since the bell test, "How many clones can you make anyways?"

Naruto looked up and tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Well…I made a thousand when I mastered the jutsu and showed Iruka-sensei, and my control is really up since then…hmm, I honestly don't know how many clones I could make at once."

The look on everyone's face -except the hawk who really didn't care- was no less than flabbergasted. Sakura's quickly turned to irritated denial though. "No way. There is no way you can make that many bunshin at once. You would need a kage's reserves and skill to even _try_ without killing yourself-"

Naruto didn't even let her finish her rant. He slammed his hands together and cried out, "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" The sky filled with rolls of smoke so thick they blocked out the stars and forest completely. When the smoke cleared, all that was visible was orange. Sun ripened orange as far as the eye could see; a mass of orange so large it was visible from space.

'_He really _can_ do it,_' Sakura thought. '_This gives new definition to "one man army."'_

_**'And they're all perfect solid clones. I wonder if they're fully functional?' **_Inner Sakura pondered.

_'Functional?'_ Inner Sakura rolled her eyes, and somehow managed to whisper into her outers' ear. Sakura fell back in a faint with a scarlet face and a small nosebleed.


End file.
